Turning the LOC on would have only taken maybe 15 seconds, however the pilot was inside of the OM and begun the descend and started turn for the new runway. A lot was going on and you can’t expect them to dial the new freq in. www.atcmonitor.com has ATL Tower communications but I doubt you will find the comms from Monday Morning. Give it a few weeks and I would bet it would be on the FAA’s Employees website.
Good article on it from cnn:
What about the lights? The pilots don’t have to do anything to benefit from the controllers lighting up the runway like a roman candle.
EDIT: I think I’m confused about which lights are which, and which ones were on. Anybody care to clarify which lights were on, and which ones were off
Eastern airlines took off from a taxiway in KPHL back in the early 90’s. I had a guy in my jumpseat who had just landed in the US from Egypt. He asked me if I had heard about what happened in KPHL and then showed me the article from half way around the world. A night take off from 27L was initiated and then discovered they were on the taxiway instead of the runway. Good thing was all other departures where behind them and no one was on the taxiway in front of them.
I will say when you have a lot on your mind (medical emergency, no ILS for the runway you were just assigned, long flight behind you, red eye flight as well) and ATC changes your runway for you to help you out on short notice it can be very busy in the cockpit. I’ve flown into KATL during the day and at night and with all the lights from the runways so close together I will be very slow to point a finger at these pilots. Just glad no one was on taxi way M when it happened. I have been on a taxiway when a aircraft was lined up for it, I turned my landing and taxi lights on and also commented to tower in time for the pilot to correct his error.
Funny you should mention that… 
Spokane GEG and Fairchild AFB are next to each ~5nm apart other and their primary runways are 3/21 and 5/23 respectively. What could go wrong? 
I’m hoping for a transcript to appear sooner on the WWW compliments of a local spotter cum ATC listener.
Did the pilot not know he landed on the taxiway till after he stopped the plane, or what?
atcmonitor.com should have an ATL feed. I don’t use it, so don’t quote me on it.
BL.
Hopefully nothing will happen to the crew besides a little bit of time doing some “extra training”. 27R is pretty difficult to see unless the approach lights are lit, 27R can often be mistaken for taxiway November (which is on the left side of 27R) and taxiway Mike for 27R. Considering the factors that were put into play (there could have been limited visibility?) anyone could have made that mistake, and it is one that those pilots I’m sure won’t ever make again. Again, I hope nothing more than a written reprimand comes of it.
Whatever happened to the saying “a good landing is one you can walk away from?”
VFR, visibility-10. Read some of the posts above.
all that changes with the FAA when you fly part 121
Looks like the 2 pilots involved will keep their jobs …
Story HERE
Two Delta Air Lines Inc. pilots who mistakenly landed a jetliner filled with 182 passengers on a taxiway at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport last month are expected to avoid punishment, according to people familiar with the matter.
I have mixed feelings about this
Do you wonder if the outcome might have been different if, they wingtipped a baggage tug?
Definitely.
or if the media had actually caught wind of this over the NWA pilots.
I’m more torn that these guys actually did something that can pretty much be seen as just as dangerous as what the NW guys did and not only still have jobs but still have a certificate.
I wish no harm on anyone and I’m glad they are still employed, I just hope things change for the NW guys.
Do you feel that these fellows did something we can see ourselves doing in the same circumstances, while the NW guys and their continued lame-ass excuses rather than admit they were asleep are beyond our comprehension?
It’s like “they” always say, “It’s not the crime, It’s the cover up.”
I tend to think what the ATL guys did was far more dangerous than what the MSP pilots did, assuming the MSP guys landed at least a little fat on fuel.
Could you imagine what a loaded 767 landing on a taxiway paralleling the active departure runway could have done had there been an airplane on that taxiway. Or if they had a hard landing, and the pavement collapsed?
I know the ATL pilots had a different set of circumstances, (no lights, no LOC, no captain) but that could have been a disaster for the history books.
All that said, the MSP pilots were stupid, and the ATL guys made a mistake in a difficult situation. I guess I have mixed feelings about this too.